Structural unit



May 22, 1956 1.. w. BENZ STRUCTURAL UNIT Filed Sept. 5, 1946 5% M OZMQD United States Patent STRUCTURAL UNIT Leonhardt'W; Benz, New Orleans, La.

Application September 5, 1946, Serial No. 694,931

2 Claims. (Cl. 189-37) The present invention pertains to a structural unit for building construction and similar purposes.

A specific and important object of this invention is to provide a structural unit including spaced flanges constructed and arranged to resist transverse stresses as a beam and to function as useful securing means to which panels, boards or other coverings can be fastened directly by nails, screws, or the like.

More specifically, it is intended to provide a structural unit such as a stud, rafter or joist with flanges formed by closely spaced parallel wire rods adapted to receive and retain fastenings there'bet-ween.

A further specific object resides in the provision of an integral structural unit having parallel flanges formed of longitudinally extending rods or bars, an undulating web maintaining the flanges in parallelism, and end closure members.

-In accordance with the principles of this invention, a structural unit is provided comprising a sequence of rigid triangles in which each leg of wire rods or metal is dimensioned to resist compressive as well :as tensile stresses. This unit satisfies standard building laws for structural members used in compression in that the ratio of its length to its radius of gyration does not exceed 120. When used as a structural frame, the flange rods having selected dimensions and spacing will .act as one part of fastenings for securing covering material in sheet or panel form. By using units consisting of a horizontal sequence of rigid triangles, greater depth for longer beams can be obtained by vertical laminations of triangles with common sides without sacrifice of the economies resulting from automatic machinery designed to handle rods, webs and triangles of uniform size.

The manner of attaining the foregoing and other important objects contributing to economy of manufacture and efficiency in use will be apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary isometric View, partially sectioned, of a stud in which the continuous web strip is corrugated longitudinally to receive the wires constituting the flanges;

Fig. 2 shows a side elevation of the entire stud unit of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line III-III of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of an end member for the basic unit of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the end member; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view illustrating the seating of the flange wires in the web corrugations.

The basic stud or column unit as shown in Figs. 1 through 6 possesses a number of outstanding .advantages. This stud unit, referred to generally by numeral 72, is characterized by a continuous, corrugated web 74 complementally engaging the spaced, circular wire rods 36 of 2,746,580 Patented May 22, 1956 the upper and lower flanges 32 and 34 at the alternate points of contact. The web 74 is approximately the width of the flanges 32 and 34. The upper and lower elongated flat courses 76, 76 of the longitudinally corrugatedweb '74 are reversely corrugated with. respect to the intermediate corrugated portions, in order that thetop and bottom wires or rods of the flanges 32 .and '34 will be in vertical alignment. The oppositely facing, shallow corrugation of the web greatly facilitates secure welding of the flange rods thereto and improves the resistance of the diagonal web portions to compressive stress. As will appear from Fig. 3, the unit is of rectangular outline in cross-section with a symmetrical distribution of rod and web strip material about both the longitudinal and transverse axes of the cross-section.

A U-shaped, corrugated end closure member 7'8 is welded between the flange ends of each section in the manner shown. It is noted that each end member 78 is corrugated throughout its length and complemental-ly receives the individual flange rods 36 or the corrugated end of the web 74. The vertical part of each end member 78 has a spaced series of perforations 86 adapted to receive common fastening means for securing to other members.

The fragmentary enlarged section of Fig. 6 shows further details of the engagement between the spaced wire flange rods 36 and the flat course 76 of the corrugated web 78. The relative dimensions of rod and complemental corrugation are such that there is provided an arc of engagement of approximately 90 degrees over an apprecible length.

By way of specific example, the 1 /2" x 3" stud unit 72 of Figs. 1 to 6 preferably has five wire rods, 36, 0.207" in diameter (W. & M. 5 gauge) in each flange and the web 74 is corrugated from 16 gauge steel strip. The corrugation gives the web 74 a slightly larger radius of gyration than that of a plain strip of the same width. It has been found that a length of /2" for the fiat courses 7.6 will produce adequate strength, resistance welds with automatic welding machinery.

It is to be understood that the relative availability of different kinds of material and machinery and other economic factors will determine the form of web member and end member used in commercial production.

While a preferred embodiment of this invention has been described in detail, it is to be understood that numerous changes can be made in size, materials and arrangement of parts without departing from the principles of this invention, as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as novel and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A structural unit comprising a like pair of aligned parallel flanges each formed by parallel spaced bars, and a continuous web strip of uniform width and thickness and having substantially the same width as the flanges alternately contacting and being integrally secured to the opposite inner sides of said flange bars by lengthwise extended areas uniformly spaced longitudinally of the unit, the said web strip being formed to provide lengthwise extending, oppositely facing, shallow corrugations complementally engaging only a minor inner portion of the flange bars at the areas of contact and having straight lengths extending between extended areas and flanges, and the said unit being of rectangular outline in cross section with :a symmetrical distribution of bar and web strip material about both the longitudinal and transverse axes of the cross-section.

2. A metallic structural unit comprising a like pair of aligned parallel flanges each formed by parallel spaced rods, and a continuous web strip of uniform width and thickness and having substantially the same width as the References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Golding Mar. 13, 1906 Dawson et al Feb. 17, 1925 Dornier Oct. 26, 1926 Meyer Oct. 25, 1927 Frease Aug. 14, 1928 Kolvrza Feb. 4, 1930 Tashjian Feb. 4, 1930 Coddington Jan. 18,1938 

